Brother's Keeper (17 page)

“Finding him will be the only problem. Any idea of where he might be?”
“I’ve had men searching for him since it happened. I keep trying to think of where he might be hiding. That’s what I do for most of my day now; sit on my front porch and try to think of where he might be hiding. I don’t think he will be in any town around here since he knows I will have men in every town watching for him. I have a hunch he’s still hiding in the hills not far from where it happened.”
“Seems like you know a lot about the man.”
Connor took another sip of his brandy. “I should; he worked for me for over a year.” Jess looked surprised as Connor continued. “That’s why I know he’s fast with a pistol. That’s why I hired him. He used to work security on the train when I was transferring money back East. That’s how he figured out how to rob the train and when I would have the most money on it.”
“Did he do the robbery alone?”
“No. He had one of the other men who worked for me help him. A man by the name of Adair Kemp. We found his dead body about two miles from the tracks where the robbery occurred. Aker must have figured he didn’t want to share the money and gold.”
“Well, we’ve taken enough of your time. I’d like to speak with the sheriff in town. Maybe he could take us out to where the robbery happened. We might as well start there. Maybe we might spot something that everyone else missed.”
“I hope so. Anyway, Sheriff Mathers’ office is right down the street. He can take you out to where the robbery and murder happened.” Carl and Murry shook Mr. Connor’s hand and thanked him. Connor shook Jess’ hand and held it for a moment as he looked into Jess’ eyes. “Please find him and kill him for me…please.”
“Like I said, Mr. Connor, if I find him, I will put him down for sure.”
The three of them headed for the sheriff’s office. As they got close to the sheriff’s office Jess spotted an older gentleman with a full head of gray hair sitting on the porch of the jail. As they approached, the man stood up and he was wearing a sheriff’s badge. Then, the sheriff’s smile turned to a frown.
“I thought you left town for good, Sloan. What in the hell are you doing back here so soon?”
Jess stopped in his tracks. Carl and Murry, who had been following right behind Jess, saw the change in Jess immediately, and Murry almost bumped into Jess. Jess looked as though someone had slammed him in the stomach with a ten-pound hammer. Jess looked at the sheriff with a growing look of confusion.
“Did you call me—Sloan?”
Sheriff Mathers walked down the two steps and looked at Jess a little closer. “I’ll be damned. I thought you were that Sloan fellow. You look an awful lot like him but now I can see that you ain’t him. These damned old eyes are gettin’ worse every day. You sure could pass for his brother, that’s for sure.”
Jess’ brain began to churn out all kinds of thoughts. What should he do now? He had just promised a man who had lost his wife to a killer that he would hunt the man down and kill him. Further, he had two newly acquired friends that he knew would most certainly get killed if they were to go after Aker by themselves. Yet, here he was, talking to the sheriff of this town that he had come to as a result of unknown circumstances, and the sheriff obviously knew his brother, the man he was searching for. His brother had been here in this town recently and yet Jess had been drawn to it by accident, or so it seemed. Then again, was it really an accident or was it destiny playing a role in his life again, like it had with the pistol and holster?
“You all right, son?” Sheriff Mathers asked, after Jess didn’t respond for a moment. Jess got a hold of himself.
“Yes. I’m fine. Sheriff, we came to ask you to take us out to the site of the robbery where Mrs. Connor was murdered.”
“Have you talked to Heath Connor yet?”
“We just came from there and we told him that we would try to find the man who murdered his wife.”
“Good luck. Every man in town and a few dozen more have been trying to do the same thing. Nobody’s had any luck so far. I think Aker dug himself a hole and buried himself with all that money and gold and he’s simply waiting it out.”
“Maybe a few new sets of eyes might make a difference.”
“Well, I’ll be glad to show you where it happened. By the way, I noticed a mule at the livery with a stinker strapped onto it. Is that your work?”
“Yes sir, it is. The body is that of Curley Simms. He has a reward of five hundred on him and these two men were taking him to Abilene for the reward.”
“That won’t be necessary. I know Mr. Connor is willing to do anything to make sure Mr. Aker pays for what he done. You can turn the body over to me and I’ll take care of everything and make sure you get the reward money.”
“Thank you, Sheriff,” said Carl. “We appreciate that.”
“Sheriff,” added Jess, “what can you tell me about Tim Sloan?” The sheriff cocked his head with a quizzical look.
“I never mentioned his first name. How do you know Sloan?”
“You said I look a lot like him?”
“At first glance, I thought you were him.”
“I’m his brother and I’ve been looking for him.”
“I guess that explains the likeness between the two of you. You only missed him by a few days. A man came to town and paid him five hundred dollars to read a letter.”
“What did the letter say?”
“Don’t have any idea. The only thing I know is that he left at daylight and he looked like he was in a hurry.”
“Who sent him the letter?”
“The letter came from a man in Black Creek, Kansas.” Jess felt another punch in the stomach. “A man by the name of Dick Carter wired me and asked me to ask Sloan to wait for a rider who was bringing him the letter and five hundred dollars in cash to read it. The only reason I know that much is that I had supper with the man who brought Sloan the letter. I think his name was Hanley or something like that. Nice man though. Bought my supper for me. Can you imagine? What kind of man would pay someone five hundred dollars just to read a letter?”
“A dead man,” replied Jess. “Sheriff, where do you think Sloan was in a hurry to go to?”
“I don’t know for sure, but my guess would be he was heading to Black Creek.” Another slam to the stomach. “That’s where the letter came from and that’s where the rider who delivered it came from and he worked for the man who sent the letter. It would only make sense that he would head there and Sloan did ride out in that direction.” A worried look came over Jess as he thought about it.
“Sheriff, what kind of man is my brother?” The sheriff looked at Jess as if he was wondering why Jess would ask.
“You don’t know?”
“I’ve never met him. I just found out recently that I had a brother.”
“You’re about to find out something else. Sloan was running a poker game with his father Eddie Sloan. So, if Tim Sloan is your brother, Eddie Sloan is your father, I would guess.” Jess’ stomach felt another blow. He didn’t know what to think. His thoughts were spinning around in his head so fast he couldn’t grab hold of any of them.
“Sheriff, do you know where Eddie Sloan headed off to?” Jess couldn’t bring himself to call Eddie Sloan his father.
“Don’t know for sure but he headed out southwest of here. Rumor has it that he runs off to a small town in Mexico to hide out for a while when things get too hot for him. That man has a lot of enemies who would like nothing better than to plug him. He’s one mean curse of a man, that’s for sure. Your brother ain’t any better. He’s a gambler, a liar, a thief, a killer, and not much else.”
Another punch to his stomach as Jess hung his head a little. He had hoped that his brother might be someone he could call family, but based on the fact that he had been seen with one of the killers of Jess’ family and what Sheriff Mathers had just told him, that was probably not going to happen. And if the sheriff was telling the truth, and Jess had no reason to doubt him, his father was rotten to the core, too. He felt somewhat sad, as if he had just lost the one piece of hope for something normal in his life to happen.
“Thanks, Sheriff. I guess we are ready to take a little ride with you out to the site of the robbery and murder,” said Jess.
The sheriff nodded as they all walked to the livery in silence. Murry and Carl could see the pain on Jess’ face as they walked. Jess wanted in the worst way to head straight back to Black Creek but he had made a commitment to Heath Connor and he had to honor it. They mounted their horses and started to head out of town. The sheriff had been watching Jess and thinking about what he had told Jess. As they turned down the main street out of town the sheriff asked Jess one more question.
“So, what are you going to do when you finally meet up with your brother?”
Jess thought about it for a moment. He didn’t look at the sheriff or at Murry or Carl. He kept his look straight away. “Most likely, I will have to kill him. After that, I’ll be looking for Eddie Sloan.” Carl and Murry exchanged glances at one another but said nothing. They rode out to the site of the robbery and murder in complete silence.

ARA BROUGHT
J
IM SOME MORE
bacon to the table. Jim, Tony and Andy had been stuffing their faces for the last half-hour as if this would

be their last meal.
“You men will be able to eat again later, you know,”
she said as she plopped down the plate of bacon. “A man has to eat when he can,” replied Jim. “Besides,” added Tony, “our next meal might be over
at Andy’s place.” Andy had a hurt look on his face. “What the hell does that mean?” Andy retorted. Tony
smiled at him.
“You still serving those big steaks over there?” Andy
and Jim knew what Tony was talking about, but they
hadn’t told Sara about the horse. Andy smiled as if he was
proud of something when he responded.
“Just sold the last of my weekly special last night.
Them two-pound steaks went right quickly at the price I
was charging.”
Tony smiled. “I’ll just bet they did.”
Jim just grunted and kept eating and Sara shook her
head at the three of them. “What do you think Tim Sloan is
up to today?” asked Sara, a worried tone to her voice. They stopped eating and looked at each other. Sloan
had been in town for three days now. Tony, Andy and Jim had been taking turns watching him as well as a few other men in town that they could trust. Sloan had started up a daily poker game at Andy’s Saloon and had emptied more than a few pockets and bank accounts of the local townsfolk. Luckily though, he had not killed anyone yet, although there had been a few shouting matches over his uncanny luck with cards. Sloan always opted to settle the argument with words when he could concerning his poker game. Not because he had any problem killing someone over a card game, it was simply good business. Once you start shooting the losers at your poker table, people quit playing. Sloan had spent some time walking around town and talking to various people but most didn’t offer much in the way of useful information. After all, Jess had saved their town from the harsh domination of Dick Carter and his hired guns. He had wandered into Jim and Sara’s general store, but he had no idea of their connection to
Jess.
“So far, he seems to be satisfied with winning all the
money he can at the card table at my place,” answered
Andy. “He’s been down to Dixie’s place. I heard he spends
most of his afternoons with a gal by the name of Vivian.
She’s new at Dixie’s and no one knows much about her.” “I’ve heard him ask a few people about Jess but so far,
no one has said anything or that they know who he is, but
I’m pretty sure that he knows that most people are hiding
something,” said Tony.
“Why do you say that Tony?” asked Sara.
“It’s just a hunch. It’s something about his way of
asking and his response. I think he knows everyone is
lying to him and he is just biding his time and trying to see
how many people will lie to him. I’m not positive but
that’s how I see it.”
“He’s a slick one and that’s a fact,” replied Andy. “I
think he knew that me and Tony lied to him the first time
he asked us and yet he never let on that he knew. I think
he’s playing with all of us and simply waiting for someone
to slip up or to say something, or maybe he’s waitin’ to see
if Jess shows up back in town.”
“That might happen,” replied Jim, a worried tone in
his voice.
“All we can do is keep doing what we have been
doing the last few days and hope that he just goes away,”
said Sara.
“No man walks away from ten thousand dollars just
for killing one man. At least not men like Tim Sloan,”
replied Andy.
“What the hell are you talking about?” asked Jim.
“What ten thousand dollars?”
Andy and Tony looked at each other and Tony
decided they might as well tell Jim and Sara what they had
heard about the money.
“Yeah,” Tony said, hanging his head, it seems that
Dick Carter agreed to pay Tim Sloan ten thousand dollars
to kill Jess.”
“We heard a couple of the ranch hands from the Carter
‘D’ talkin’ about it yesterday in the saloon,” added Andy “That damned Dick Carter,” retorted Jim, “that son of
a bitch is still causing us grief from his grave.”
“I say we all go out there and piss on his grave,” Andy
said, defiantly.
“That won’t solve anything,” Sara remarked. “Let’s
all keep our heads and hope for the best.” All three men
nodded in agreement.
“And you should have told us about the ten thousand
dollars before,” added Sara, a hurt tone to her voice. Tony
and Andy said nothing but simply hung their heads, knowing that they should have told Jim and Sara as soon
as they had herd the story about the money.
They finished with their meals and Andy went back to
the saloon and Tony went back to the livery. Tony watched
as Sloan left his hotel room and headed over to Dixie’s
place, probably to see Vivian again. He put his hand on the
barrel of his Winchester rifle that he always kept near,
especially after the Dick Carter affair, as it was now being
called. I should just plug him with my rifle and save
everyone the trouble that’s coming, Tony thought to
himself. The only thing that really stopped him from doing
so was that human trait most men called civilized. He
leaned his Winchester back against his worktable and went
back to work.

“Well, this is where it happened. Not much to tell though. Aker stopped the train here and his partner was waiting by the tracks with three extra horses to carry the money and gold away. I talked to the people on the train after it happened. They said that after Aker had a few of the passengers load all the money and gold onto the horses, Aker came into the passenger car and he looked for Mrs. Connor. He told her to thank her husband for the pay raise. She stood up and called him a traitor and a thief and he shot her. She fell into the aisle between the seats and tried to sit up and he shot her two more times. There just wasn’t any good reason to do that except for plain meanness. People couldn’t believe a man could do that to a woman. I knew Mrs. Connor and she was a real fine lady. If anyone brings that son of a bitch in alive, I guarantee I will hang his sorry ass the very same day and there won’t be any trial before I do it.”